Decline of Journalism — Italian Sympathizers. 381 



field of Journalism there is no person of mark visible, and 

 even the few journals which appear in Lima, such as the 

 Cornercio and the Independiente, have a very limited circulation. 

 As only a small proportion of the population can read or in- 

 terest itself in politics, the principles advocated in those jour- 

 nals exercise no influence, so that Government has less diffi- 

 culty in acting up to them than would otherwise be the case. 

 One thing that particularly struck me was the hostility dis- 

 played to Austria, which, during my stay in Lima, manifested 

 itself in the daily press and a fraction of the population. 

 The politics of Austria were discussed with a bitterness of 

 hate, which was the more surprising in a nation which is itself 

 a prey to intestine disorders, and suffers itself to be led about 

 a willing captive, in the fetters of a half-Indian despot. I 

 found, however, the clue to this excited language, when I 

 learned on one occasion, that there are upwards of 8000 Pied- 

 montese in Lima and Callao alone, chiefly shop-keepers and 

 shipping-owners, who exercise a certain influence upon the 

 native population. The war in Europe had so raised anew 

 the pride of country in each Italian, and filled him with such 

 sanguine patriotic aspirations and hopes of a united Italy, that 

 his heated fancy beheld in every incident of the war the 

 most righteous struggle that ever was engaged in, and in the 

 opposite party the most detestable and inhuman of opponents. 

 Among such an auditory as those in which such opinions 

 were ventilated, there was no difficulty in finding adherents. 

 The ignorance of the native population respecting all countries 



